Mishieru

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Posts posted by Mishieru

  1. Chapter 16 The Truth

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    Jay walked into his appa's office, carrying a face of distaste. How he hated being in the same room as him. He never did anything for him when he was a kid even though his mother had left him when he was only a couple months old. He didn't know anything about his mother. He had asked Gab Soo about him several times when he was a kid but he only avoided the question and introduced him to his new girlfriends.

    Over the years, he's grown to accept that this man could never be his appa, and Gab Soo has accepted that Jay will always hate him. Life goes on.

    “What's Nicole up to these days?” Gab Soo asked, not bothering to greet his son. Of course, Jay thought, he never talked to him unless he wanted something from him.

    He shrugged, “Since when did you care?”

    His eyes couldn't help but notice the newspaper sitting in front of the elder man. A dose of death. Jay figured it was about the man, Jung In Taek. Gab Soo noticed Jay staring at the article in front of him and thought of an idea. He leaned back in his chair and let out a sigh, “Poor girl. It must be hard for her since her appa died.”

    Jay knew what Gab Soo was trying but he couldn't help but fall for it. He looked up, showing he's quite interested. Perhaps this might be the reason why Nicole had been so distanced from him. Her appa died and he didn't even know anything about it. “When was this?”

    He tapped the print in front of him with his fat fingers. “Last night. I wonder if she even heard the news yet.”

    His eyes widened in shock. The man who had died was her appa. The man she had bumped into at the mall was her appa, which explained why she had looked so scared. Why didn't she tell him though?

    Seeing his reaction, Gab Soo smiled in satisfaction but quickly wiped it off.

    "Don't tell me you don't know about this," Gab Soo said, clearly trying to make him feel worse.

    Jay ignored his question and said, “She probably hasn't heard anything about him in a long time.”

    “No, she's known about him for quite a while.” Gab Soo covered his mouth as if he had accidentally slipped a big secret. Jay's eyes shifted to look him straight in the eye, demanding for him to continue. Gab Soo pretended to drop his hands in defeat.

    “She's know about him for the past few months. I'm pretty sure she's been seeing him regularly though. Perhaps she missed him?” he lied. “She told me not to tell you and that she'd handle it herself.”

    Jay nodded even though he felt betrayed for being kept out of the circle. He was always the one who's been there for her over the many years and he was the one who saved her from that man in the first place. He should have the rights to know if she saw him again. At least that way, he could have had time to think about how to help her.

    “Don't feel too bad about it. Girls like to keep secrets,” Gab Soo said, as though he was trying to put in good words for Nicole like a father would for their own daughter. “She's a big girl now. She knows how to take care of her own problems.”

    “She's obviously not doing it the right way,” he snapped before turning and leaving.

    “Let me know when you see her,” Gab Soo called after him. He didn't answer and simply slammed the door shut.

    Gab Soo smiled to himself, pulling out a cigar and lighting it. From the moment he agreed to keeping her, he knew things were going to be interesting. She was the first person Jay had grown attached to and he couldn't help but find entertainment in tearing them apart.

    But aside from that, he knew she was different. He used to be able to read her like a book when she was a kid, but now, it was hard for him to guess what she was thinking. She was like one of those tigers you see at a circus. Those things seem like harmless kitty cats when they're trained and performing. But there was always a possibility they might suddenly decide to eat you for dinner.

    Being anybody's dinner was the last thing Gab Soo was going to let happen. It was better to keep a closer eye on her.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    The first thing he noticed was Chansung sitting by the bar enjoying a drink with Nicole. He hadn't seen her in this place for quite a while and seeing how she was laughing and smiling, he could tell she was in a good mood. How can she be smiling and laughing after killing her own father, he thought bitterly. It was after, that he realized he already thought of her as the reason behind her father's death.

    Nicole's eyes fell on his and he saw her face drop. Chansung turned his head just to see Jay approaching the two of them. “Hey hyung.”

    Jay ignored him, keeping his eyes fixed on Nicole he said, “Let's talk.”

    Nicole turned her back to him and took a sip from her cocktail. “Not now.”

    Jay grabbed the drink out of her hand and held her wrist with the other. “I'm not asking you.”

    Chansung jumped out from his seat and placed a hand on his hyung's arm. “Hyung, stop it.”

    Jay glared at Chansung, “Stay out of this.”

    “Get your hands off her first,” Chansung said, not backing down.

    Jay dropped his hands from Nicole, Chansung following suit from his hyung. Nicole looked between the two, knowing they were going to break out into a fight if she didn't do something. Finally she stood up, “What's left to talk about?”

    Jay looked her and back at Chansung and walked away, signalling for her to follow him to somewhere more private. Nicole looked at Chansung and gave him a reassuring smile, before following after him.

    She followed him into the back alley, where she would always go when she needed a breather. She crossed her arms, leaning against the closed door. She stared at his turned back, waiting for him to say something.

    “Where were you last night?”

    Thinking this was another one of his assumptions of her being with another guy, she said, “How many times do I have to say this? I'm done explaining myself to you.”

    He turned to face her. His piercing stare told her this was much more serious than their relationship. “Who's Jung In Taek?”

    She stiffened upon hearing his words. She hadn't expected him to ask her this. How did he find out? She swallowed the lump in her throat before answering, “I don't know what you're talking about.”

    “How can you forget your own father's name?” he said, taking a step towards her. “I'm sure you've heard about his death and you sure seem to be taking it well.”

    “You don't know anything,” Nicole whispered, just loud enough for him to hear.

    “When did you become like this, Nicole?” his eyes reflected the sadness in his voice.

    “Jaebum...” I looked up at him, feeling my chest tightening. Every time he looked at me like that, it made me want to wrap my arms around him and apologize. I hated to be the reason he was sad. I wish I knew the answer to his question too. So bitter and empty; always needing the warmth of others to fill that gap temporarily. I thought Jay could fill that hole in my chest but it's only made the hole bigger.

    “Did you kill him?” he asked hesitantly.

    I looked away, not being able to look at him in the eyes. “No.”

    He grabbed me by the shoulder and shook me, “Why, Nicole? Why didn't you tell me? I could've helped you! You didn't have to kill him!”

    I shoved him away from me, “This has nothing to do with you! Stop trying to stick your nose into other people's business. You can't help me. There's nothing between us anymore. Nothing. You get that? I do what I want and you do what you want. Don't talk to me. Don't look at me. Don't even think about me. Just move on, because I know I have. ”

    I went back inside, not waiting for him to speak. I guess this was the end of Park Jaebum and Jung Nicole.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    “Is this really what you want?” he asked.

    I nodded. I remained composed although my heart was beating madly against my chest; I wondered if he could hear it. He gave the two men in the front of the car a look and they got out of the car. I watched from the window as the men walked across the street and disappeared behind the torn curtain. I sat impatiently, waiting.

    Several minutes passed by and still nothing happened. I looked over at him for some answers. He smiled softly, wrapping an arm around my shoulder and pulling me in to rest against the crook of his neck. “Don't worry. It's only been five minutes. Give them some time.”

    I nodded again. If I spoke, I probably would've gone off into a rant and not stop myself until they did return. We sat like that for a while, his hand petting my head comfortingly while my hands held his free hand. Somehow, our relationship took another step further. I didn't know what we were: Acquaintances? Friends? Or was there more?

    Whatever it was, I felt at ease when I was with him. Maybe it was because I felt as though I could rely on him. It seemed as though there wasn't anything in the world he would not help me with.

    I tucked away those thoughts for later when the two men climbed back into the car. Even then, I didn't move from my position, feeling comfortable where I was. His chest vibrated as he spoke, “Did you do what I asked?”

    “Yes sir, he's not going to live through that dose of heroin. And the whores in the house will be too scared to say anything. I doubt anyone's going to find him until tomorrow when they're taking out the trash,” the man in the passenger seat reported.

    He nodded, satisfied. I tightened my grip on his hand. “Is he really dead now?”

    “It's all over now,” he said, pulling me closer, “Go to sleep. I'll wake you in a bit.”

    For once, I was able to close my eyes without the fear of that man getting to me.

  2. Chapter 15 The Request

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    I handed the cab driver several bills and stepped out of the taxi carefully. “Keep the tips,” I said, closing the door behind me and waiting for the cab to drive off. I looked both ways, trying to find the buildings he described. A group of men walked by me and stopped, shortly behind me. Looking at them through the side of my eye, they nudged each other and exchanged looks before walking into the shabby building. I hadn't even noticed walking by this store.

    I looked up at the store name, but the lettering was too worn out. There were no windows to the inside and there was cheap blanket hanging over the door. I took a step back as a large man pushed the curtains away on his way out. He had a hand under his shirt, scratching his beer belly as he walked by me. I didn't miss the smug look he gave me. This must be it.

    A white car pulled up in front of me just as I stepped out of the entrance of the club. The window rolled down, revealing the owner of the familiar joker smile. He gave me a wink, “Does this pretty lady have some free time?”

    I couldn't help but shake my head and laugh before getting into his car. “I'm beginning to think you're stalking me.”

    “I just know the right places to find you,” he grinned.

    “Stalker,” I said, sticking my tongue out at him playfully. “Where are we going?”

    “Want to go for a midnight snack?” My stomach answered for me, growling loudly. He tried not to laugh but failed. I covered my face from embarrassment, forgetting that I still hadn't had dinner yet. “I'll take that as a yes.”

    Siwon brought us to a family restaurant which was nothing close to what I had expected from him. He didn't look like the type of person who ate anywhere other than those high-class five star restaurants. But then again, I never expected us to become good friends either.

    “Thanks for the treat,” I smiled sheepishly, wiping the corners of my mouth with a napkin.

    As we got up to go, he left a large bill on the table which was much more than what the actual cost was. “Thanks omoni!” he called to the woman who owned the store.

    “Come back soon, Siwon-sshi!” she waved at us as we left.

    While walking back to the car I asked, “Oppa, you didn't find me tonight just to treat me to food did you?”

    He looked at me, disappointed, “Can't I treat a friend to food just because I want to?”

    I looked down, “Sorry.”

    He smiled, “But you're right. I didn't find you to just feed you. I found out more about Jung In Taek.”

    I froze in my tracks at the mention of that name. He stopped too and frowned, “What is it?”

    I shook my head and continued walking, “Nothing. What did you find out?”

    He waited until we got into his car before he continued, “He came to us to borrow some money recently. Turns out the way he makes the money to return it is running a brothel.”

    I turned and slipped into the dark narrow alley Siwon had told me about. There was a back entrance inside. Just as I was about to turn the corner, I heard trash cans being knocked over and quickly stopped. Pressed up against the wall, I turned my head slightly just enough to see what was happening.

    The door had swung open which was what had knocked over the trashcans. A man was grabbing a woman's hair roughly and dragging her out. She was begging for him not to hurt her between her sobs as she kicked and tried to remove his hands from her hair. He threw her in front of him, the poor woman tripping over her own feet and falling.

    The man stood in front of her and said something, but he was too quiet for me to hear. She knelled in front of him, shaking her head furiously. I watched as his hand raised up before coming down hard on the woman's cheek, knocking the woman over as she held her face.

    He didn't stop there. He knelt down to her eye-level and gave her head a hard shove.“If I find out you try to run away again, I'll break your legs!” he yelled loudly.

    I felt my heart drop when his eyes looked up and I felt our eyes meet for a second before I slipped back into the dark. Had he seen me? I was too scared to make any other movements in case he would find me. There was a moment of silence, and then I heard the sound of his belt unbuckling.

    “Do a good job at it.” A part of me wanted to just leave but I couldn't help but sneak one more peek. I wish I hadn't. The girl was on her knees in front of him, loosening his pants and I knew what was going to happen next.

    I tore away my eyes, clasping my hands over my mouth in disbelief. Why was I related to this disgusting creature? But I felt no better, hiding in the dark. I couldn't help her and she didn't have a choice if she didn't want him to beat her. The sound of his groans sickened me. I covered my ears with my hands and took several backs further into the dark before I turned and broke off into a sprint.

    That night I couldn't sleep. I tossed and turned in bed, not being able to get my mind to shut off and just stop thinking about what I had seen and what I hadn't seen. When I did fall asleep, it wasn't long before I jerked awake from another nightmare. After the third time, I couldn't handle it anymore. I made up my mind, “######, I'll never have my life back unless he's gone.”

    I looked over at the clock and saw that it was already 4 in the morning. I thought about waiting until tomorrow to make the call, but I couldn't wait any longer. I grabbed my phone and punched in several numbers.

    I felt my blood go cold. He ran a whorehouse. I thought he was the same as before but it seems he's only become worse. I couldn't help but think of the things he did to the girls who worked for him. If I hadn't ran away those many years ago, he probably would've sold me off without hesitation. I began to cry, sobbing loudly into my hands.

    “N-nicole?” Siwon stuttered, not knowing how to react. He placed his arms around me hesitantly and pulled me close as I continued to cry. He didn't say a word, but simply held me until I eventually stopped. He pulled away slowly and just looked at me with furrow brows. He wasn't asking me what was wrong because he didn't want to force me to say anything, but his eyes were telling me he wanted to understand.

    Finally I gave in, “That man's my appa.”

    I told him about my past and he just sat and listened. “I hate him. And I hate myself for having a man like him for my appa. I can't ever live without waking up and screaming from my nightmares knowing that he's still around and close. He tried to kill me again! I can't do this. Siwon, you can help me.”

    “How?”

    “If one day, I ask you to help me get rid of him, will you?”

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Jay jerked awake from his sleep, sweat beaded from his forehead. He rarely ever dreamed, but for the past few days, he's been having the same nightmare. The same nightmare where he watched himself push Nicole from a building.

    “Nicole...” he looked to the empty side of the bed. He didn't know what happened between them which made things end up this way. Everything was going so well until...he had found her broken state in the parking lot with Nickhun. It was then that she shut him off completely.

    He knew that it was his fault too for pushing her. He should've never laid a hand on her or looked through her things no matter how angry he got. But Siwon? Why was she calling him? He thought she had stopped talking to him ever since the business their groups have done together. Even though she denied doing anything with him, he couldn't help but feel uneasy.

    He had thought about calling her and apologizing but he knew she wouldn't want to talk to him. The pain in chest never went away from the night she walked away from him, not even looking back once. It was as though he didn't mean anything to her anymore.

    He got up and took a quick shower, knowing that he would only wake up from another nightmare if he went back to sleep. He turned on the t.v. and went into the kitchen to grab himself a bowl of cereal. When he came back out, he plopped down on the couch, just in time for the news.

    “53 years-old Jung In Taek was found dead in an alley this morning by a passer. Police believe this may be caused by drug overdoes, as there were many syringe scars found on along the victim's arm.”

    The image of the man had caused Jaebum to freeze with his mouth still open. He had seen the man somewhere before. After a moment of hard thinking, he remembered he had seen him the time he went to the mall with Nicole. He had bumped into her and knocked her over. He wasn't positive if it was the same person, but he had a feeling he was right.

    Jay remembered the look on Nicole's face when she had seen that man. It was as if she had seen a ghost. She must've known him. He quickly picked up the phone and called Seungyeon, “Hey, did Nicole come home last night?”

    “Jay? No, she didn't.”

    “Do you know where she went?”

    “No, she didn't say anything. Why? Did something happen?” Seungyeon asked anxiously.

    “No, it's nothing. Thanks. I'll see you later,” he said before hanging up.

    He really hoped this didn't have to do with her. Seeing how she's been acting so strangely, he didn't know what to expect from her anymore. [/i]

  3. Author's Note: Haven't been writing or updating anything in a while. I had this written a while back but only decided to post it now. Just some fluff tings because I miss Nikey in my life.

    Inspired by these two pictures:

    http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa91/michxchoco/key2d.jpg

    http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa91/michxchoco/20100807_nicole.jpg

    ~~~~~~~~

    Nicole stared at the television with large wide eyes, her mouth agape. “Oh my god.”

    Hara, came out of the kitchen with a cup of milk in hand, a milkstache on her upper lip. “What?”

    She dropped the controller on the floor and jumped up, screaming in English, “Oh my god! It's out!”

    And then she ran back to her room.

    Hara sighed, and shook her head. Nicole definitely has a 4D personality no one is going to understand.

    No one except one person of course.

    In her room, Nicole pounced on her bed and grabbed her cellphone which was hidden away under her pillow. She quickly punched in the speed dial and waited anxiously for her best friend to pick up. As soon as the line got through, she yelled once again, “It's out!”

    Key, on the other end of the phone, had to pull away his head away on the phone for a second, unsure if he was deaf or not. After checking that he could still hear (though his ears were still ringing.) he answered, “What is out?”

    “Toy Story 3!” she squealed happily.

    Key was actually in dance studio practising the routine for Lucifer with the rest of SHINee.

    “Hi Nicole!” Jonghyun yelled loudly after hearing Nicole's voice screaming from Key's phone.

    “Tell her I said hi,” Minho said.

    “Minho and Jonghyun says hi,” he told her just as they had wanted. He glanced at Onew who was pointing at himself enthusiastically, “and Onew hyung.”

    “Tell them I said hi back.”

    “She says hi.”

    Even though this was quite troublesome for Key and he often wondered why the guys didn't just call her themselves if they wanted to say so badly, he's gotten used to it. Every time Nicole called, they would always tell him to say hi for them. I guess him telling her for them was better than them calling her. Key felt special since Nicole did call him the most out of them all. The reason he said most is because Nicole would occasionally call Minho too. Not that he himself minded. Not at all.

    “I really want to watch it,” she gushed. “Do you want to watch it with me?”

    “Sure but I've never seen any of them before.” Even if it was the most boring movie ever, he would still watch it with her just because it was her.

    “What?!” she asked with disbelief, “It's such an amazing movie! You have to watch it. You just have to.”

    “Don't you have to go to Japan soon though?” Key reminded her. He felt like her mom sometimes. She often forgot that she was a celebrity and was busy with other schedules to plan going to the movies all the time.

    She groaned, “I totally forgot about that.”

    “We could always watch it when you come back,” he said.

    “Yeah, hopefully it'll still be in the theatres.”

    “Don't worry it will,” he reassured her.

    *~*~*~*~*

    “I want to rewatch it already,” she said wiping the tears from her eyes. Key understood the ending was sad but was it really that depressing that she had to cry this much about it? They ended up leaving the theatre right after everyone because Nicole was sitting inside crying until the end of the credits.

    “It was alright,” he shrugged.

    “Promise me you'll watch the first two movies!”

    Key turned to her and was going to say no, but seeing the way her big eyes looked at him, with tears glistening along her lashes, he couldn't. He sighed, “Fine.”

    “You're going to thank me for telling you to watch it once you finish watching them,” she said triumphantly.

    He drove her back to her dorm, dropping her off at the front. “Wait here,” she told him.

    He nodded, watching her as she threw off her seat belt and hopped out of the car, skipping happily inside. He shook his head and smiled. He could only imagine the thousands of fanboys dying to be in his position right now. Having the chance to drive her home after watching a movie late at night with her almost as if he was her boyfriend.

    She returned shortly, clutching the movies to her chest. He rolled down the window for her to hand them to him. She held it out to him but quickly pulled it back, “Be careful with them okay?! These are my babies!”

    He rolled his eyes, “Yes I will.”

    “And you better be finished watching both by the time I get back from Japan!” she pouted, handing over the disks.

    “Okay I will. Hurry up and go back up before someone sees you,” he said, glancing around through his aviators. It was quite difficult to see anything considering how the sun had set hours ago and it was dark enough outside without the shades.

    A tired smile pulled on her lips, “Good night. I'll see you again... in a couple of weeks.”

    He sensed the feign of disappointment in her voice and couldn't help but smirk, “Don't miss me too much.”

    She stuck her tongue out at him playfully and turned and disappeared into the building.

    *~*~*~*~*

    While in LA, he had passed by a Disney shop there which sold plenty of things which girls would love. There was a large cardboard stand of the characters in Toy Story 3 at the front of the entrance and Key immediately thought of Nicole.

    “I'm going to check this out for a bit,” he told the SHINee boys who nodded and went to the stores close by while he went in. He glanced around the shelves, trying to decide what he should get for her. He didn't want to pick anything she probably saw at the Disney Land when she was in Japan.

    “To infinity and beyond!” Key jumped at the sudden robotic voice beside him. He turned and saw a plush of Buzz Lightyear, Nicole's favourite character. Immediately, he knew she would love it. He took the last one, and went to the counter to pay for it.

    “What's that?” Jonghyun asked, pointing at the bag and trying to peek inside.

    Key slapped the hand away, “Don't be so nosy.”

    Right away, Jonghyun knew who it was for. “Nicole eh?” She was the only reason Key would be so secretive about things.

    The way his lips couldn't help but curve into a smile gave everything away.

  4. tsjn: :) Happy endings are always good. thanks for reading! ^^

    berryFEVER: Thanks for reading! I think constructive criticism is always good as long as its not too harsh. :P Hehe the album idea thing is pretty fun. I might do one again in Nicole's point of view. :)

    Afifa_ellia: I'm so glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for reading and I'll be sure to write another one ^^

    tiramisu123: :o Now that you remiind me, I posted it on lj! ^^ Thank you so much bb! I'll try to write more soon! btw, sorry for being so m.i.a. on lj ><"

    plainsha: Thank you so much for always supporting my writing. :) I'm glad you liked this! ^^

    linouuu: I forgot to post it on lj. ><" It's up there now! ^^ School's been keeping me busy! I'm going to try and send the card out some time next week. :) Hopefully it'll get to you in time! ^^

  5. Year of Us

    Ring Ding Dong

    “It's the bell that goes off in your head when you see that special person.”

    That's exactly what happened to Key when he first saw her.

    He froze when he caught the way she smiled and laughed. He had seen her several times before and yeah, he did find her cute. Cute like all the other girls who tried to flirt with him and failed terribly. But experiencing it was much more than that.

    He expected her to be much more different around people who she could benefit from and people who were considered as nobodies. (That's what most of the girls were like.)

    But she wasn't. She was genuinely nice to everyone and was adorable without trying (especially with her poor Korean skills).

    Without realizing, he started falling for her.

    Get Down

    He wasn't sure of it at first. Maybe it was an infatuation.

    It sure seemed like it from the number of times he woke up, covered in a sweat and a mess on his sheets.

    He would clean up the mess, take a cold shower, and hop back in bed, hoping that he could sleep for several hours more before he had to get up. But every time he closed his eyes, he found that same face flashing across his mind.

    Was it normal to wonder if her skin was soft as he imagined and if she arched up against him with his touch just like he had dreamt?

    The first time he dreamt of her, he felt his cheeks redden just from seeing her the next day.

    The second time he dreamt of her, he started to sweat just being in the same room as her.

    The many times after that, well, he just couldn't bare being around her anymore without feeling like a complete pervert.

    Jojo

    He found himself a girl to try and forget her. After all, Nicole didn't even think much of his existence.

    If she was driving his hormones insane and she wasn't going to deal with it, he was going to have to find someone else who was.

    He didn't even know much about this girl he had picked up. She just so happened to be the best looking one out of her group of friends when they had approached him.

    She wasn't in love with him and Key wasn't in love with her. It was simply a mutual exchange between two people who needed an outlet.

    Although those dreams didn't stop, at least he had someone to turn to when he needed to let it out. Even if that person wasn't Nicole.

    Everything was fine.

    Until he had accidentally said Nicole's name instead of whatever the girl's name was in the middle of their session. That earned him a slap to the face and that was the end of it (Must have been a blow to her pride).

    SHINee Girl

    When trying to forget her hadn't worked, he was determined to find a way to talk to her or at least get her to notice him.

    When he found out they would be attending the same party together, he knew this was his chance.

    Who would've thought that it was much harder than he had thought it would be?

    The Almighty Key never had to do much to get a girl's attention. Usually, they would notice him as soon as he stepped into the room. And other times, it simply took a second of eye contact before they would slither through the crowd towards him.

    Seeing how his best friend was having such a trouble with this girl, Jonghyun whispered something to one of Nicole's friends, who then went and whispered something to Nicole. Key watched it all unfold, feeling the sudden urge to strangle Jonghyun for doing something which he never asked for. When he saw her giggle and look over at him, he thought he was going to die of embarrassment on the spot.

    And when she had approached him with that innocent smile of hers, for once in his life, he was speechless.

    The Name

    For the first time in his life, he found love.

    Not just lust and desire.

    He actually cared for her and that's what scared him. He didn't know what to do and how to cope with these feelings. Never in his life has he ever cared about someone else besides himself. He didn't have to worry about hurting other people's feelings because he couldn't care less.

    But now that he did, it felt like another responsibility that he wasn't sure he was ready for. What if he did a bad job at taking care of her and being there for her. What worried him most was, what if she didn't feel the same way about him?

    He was too scared to tell her and he didn't want to ruin their friendship, but he couldn't help but distance himself from her, hoping that the feelings will die.

    The feelings didn't die and he was only dying inside. He would look away when he made eye contact with her even though he wanted to just stop and stare at her for eternity. He wouldn't pick up his phone when she called even though he longed to hear her voice. And whenever he saw her approaching, he would turn around and walk the other way, not looking back once.

    Year of Us

    Stop walking away!

    It wasn't until he heard her cracked voice as she yelled at his turned back, that he stopped in his tracks. He swallowed the lump in his throat and turned around slowly to see her tear-stained face just watching him as she cried.

    She continued to yell at him between her sobs and he wasn't able to catch anything but “stupid idiot” but it was enough for him to understand that she didn't want him to leave just as he didn't want to leave her.

    Ignoring all the thoughts telling him to walk away again, he ran over to her and pulled her into his arms. He held her tighter as she continued to muffle words into his shoulder. He pulled away just enough to look her in the eye.

    He brought up his hands hesitantly to hold her face, brushing his finger against her soft cheeks and just examining the way her eyes still glistened with tears and the way her red nose crinkled with every sniffle. Even when she was a mess, she was beautiful.

    When he pressed his lips against her gently, they molded together perfectly and that's when he was sure that she was the special person for him.

    Jung Nicole, I'm not going to run away again. I'm yours.

    Author's Note: I've been wanting to do a one-shot sort of thing using the song names for a while but never really had any ideas on how to. I was planning on waiting until it's around New Years to post this (new years. year of us. get it? :P) but I didnt' want you guys to wait too long so here you go! Hope you guys enjoyed this!

  6. Chapter 14 The Last Chance

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    I strapped on my thigh high leather boots and grabbed the car keys on top of the shoe cabinet. I patted the pocket of my leather jacket to make sure I hadn’t forgotten to carry my gun with me. I opened the door and called out behind me, “I’m going out for a bit.”

    I went down to the parking lot, hands stuffed in my pockets and walked as fast as I could to the car I had just recently rented. I still got that eerie feeling whenever I was alone. When I reached the pearl white Audi, I climbed in the car quickly, locking the doors immediately. I let out a sigh of relief. When I looked up into my rear-view mirror, I let out a sharp scream, whipping back to look at the passenger seat.

    No one was there.

    I could swear I had just seen my appa in the reflection, just staring at me with that drunk smile from the many years ago. I started the car and gripping onto the steering wheel nervously as I drove out of the parking lot.

    When I had arrived at the grim apartment, a part of me wanted to leave immediately. I took a deep breath and walked up the dark stairs, watching my steps carefully.

    I stopped in front of his unit and rang the doorbell. When he didn’t answer, I grabbed the rusty gate and rattled it a couple of times, only to find that it wasn’t locked. Neither was the door. Turning the dull coloured doorknob, I opened the door slowly.

    When I saw him cowering in the corner of the room, I felt more confident to kick the door entirely open and said, “Hey.”

    He turned towards me enough for me to see the syringe he was holding in his right hand, inserting what I assumed was heroin. He was smiling lop-sided at me as though he was in a trance.

    “What the ###### are you doing?!” I screamed, rushing over and grabbing the syringe out of his hand and throwing it aside. He continued to look up at me with that clueless expression of his. I grabbed him by the collar roughly and shook him, “Where’s the money?”

    I pulled away my hands immediately when I saw him reaching his dry hands up to mine. I watched him slowly crawl over to the syringe and walked over to it before he could reach it, putting my left foot on top of it and crushing it beneath my boots. I watched his expression slowly change into surprise and then what looked like anger. He pushed himself up, stumbling over to the side slightly before regaining his balance, and took several steps over to me.

    I clenched my fists tightly, telling myself to keep calm as he approached me. I looked him right in the eye, my heart beating faster and faster in my chest as he got closer and closer. His large hands reached around my neck, gripping my throat tightly as he pushed me up against and the wall and shook me. His mouth was moving but I couldn’t hear anything but the pulsing in my body getting louder.

    I tried to remove his hands, digging my manicured nails into him as hard as I could as I coughed and splurged for oxygen. My vision became more blurry and I began feeling more lightheaded. Just as I thought I was going to die, his grip loosened and he took several steps back, eventually falling on the floor. I too slipped onto the floor, my hand reaching up to feel my bruised neck as I tried to catch my breath again.

    I watched as he clenched onto his chest, making sharp rapid breaths. It must have been the heroin which was making it hard for him to breathe. I should kill him while he’s still down. I got up and walked over to him hesitantly, my right hand in my pocket holding onto my gun. I stopped beside him, looking down on him as he struggled to breathe.

    This was the same man from nine years ago.

    The same man who had tried to killed me.

    He looked up at me.

    My jaw tightened as I swung a kick into his side. He let out a yelp and rolled over. I didn’t stop. I continued kicking him, ignoring his cries.

    “Don’t ever touch me again,” I spat at him, kicking him harder after every word. Using all my anger, I kicked him one last time in the chest, causing him to cough up blood, as he hugged himself. Sweat formed on my forehead and I was panting heavily, when I had finally come back to my senses.

    “Don’t say I’m not letting you off this time. This is your last chance. Make another mistake and I’ll kill you.”

    I stuffed my hands in my pocket and left. My right hand traced the edges on the gun in my pocket as I walked down the stairs. Even after nine years, I still couldn’t kill him. Maybe because a part of me was hoping that he would change after this.

    This is the last time I’ll hesitate.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    When I had arrived back home, I saw Jay’s figure sitting on the bench again just as he was the last time I had seen him. By now, I was used to it and knew why he was here. I walked by him, knowing that he was going to get up and stop in front of me.

    “Are you okay?” he asked, sounding like he was actually concerned.

    I looked up at him with irritated eyes, “What do you want now? Are you here to confront me about another one of your stupid assumptions? Maybe you think I slept with Nickhun now?”

    “Look I’m sorry about yesterday,” he began, but I cut him short, holding up a hand for him to stop.

    “You don’t have to apologize for telling your thoughts. I’m just not interested in what you have to say anymore,” I said nonchalantly.

    “Nicole, what’s wrong with you? And what are those marks around your neck?” he asked, his brow knitted together as he reached towards my bare neck.

    My left hand shot up and covered it, shaking my head, “Nothing.”

    “Can we please just sit down and talk everything out? I know I shouldn’t have assumed or looked through your things like that. B-” he paused, “But I was worried about you and I didn’t want to lose you to anything. I promise I’ll listen to what you have to everything you have to say.”

    I hated how he always knew what strings to pull to make my heart melt for him but I wasn’t going to let myself cry for him again like I did before. I promised myself I wouldn’t let anyone hurt me again. “I have nothing left to say to you.”

    “Nicole,” his voice was filled with sadness as he took the tips of my finger, looking at me helplessly.

    Stop it, Nicole. Don’t give him a chance to hurt you again.

    I blinked, a tear rolling from the corner of my eye as I pulled my hand away gently. I walked past him and into the building, not looking back once.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    After that night, I went to my luggage and pulled out the envelope of money I had saved up from the things I’ve done for Gab Soo the last few time I had worked for him. I pulled out enough cash to pay off for In Taek’s debt and placed it in another envelope. I went to Gab Soo’s office right after and dropped the envelope of cash on his desk. He looked at the envelope and back at me before smiling in satisfaction. He hadn’t even bothered to count if it was the right amount before tossing it in a cabinet.

    “Aren’t you going to check if it’s the right amount?” I asked.

    He folded his hands on top of each other and said, “No. I trust that you made sure the job was done perfectly.”

    I wasn’t sure if it was a compliment or if there was a secret meaning behind it. “Is that all?”

    “Ah… I was wondering Nicole. How does it feel seeing your appa again?” he grinned, his gold tooth making him look that much more devious.

    I bit my tongue from saying something which wouldn’t be such a good idea right now. “That man is not my appa.”

    He pulled out a cigar and lit it, taking a deep breath and exhaling the dark smoke into the room. “Don’t you ever miss him?”

    “Are you asking me if I miss the way he screamed at me and beat me to sleep?” I said bitterly.

    He smirked, “You sure remind me of someone I once knew.”

    I cocked my head to the side, genuinely curious as to who he was talking about. I waited for him to continue. He took another puff and waved me off, “You can go now.”

    A bit disappointed, I nodded and left the room.

    As soon as I went back to the clubbing area, Seungyeon and Jiyoung ran over to me in their 3 inch heels and clung onto both my arms. “Nickhun’s here!”

    “What?” I said loudly over the music.

    “Your really cute friend is here!” Seungyeon said loudly, looking over at the bar area. My eyes followed where they were pointing and easily spotted Nickhun sitting by the bar. How could you possibly miss such a good looking person.

    I shrugged coolly ,”I don’t care.”

    “What? Can we just go over and say hi please?” Jiyoung whined, tugging on my arm.

    “Let’s go!” Seungyeon said, and the two of them began dragging me over there. I groaned, knowing this going to be extremely awkward.

    Seungyeon sat me down beside him and then took the seat beside me while Jiyoung sat on the other side of him. She elbowed me lightly and I had to stop myself from rolling my eyes before I said, “Hey.”

    Nickhun looked at the three of us strangely at first before putting down his cup and saying, “Hey,” he said, smiling at Seungyeon and Jiyoung. I could tell from the way these two were grinning that they were melting on the inside. “Why are you guys here?”

    “We’re always here!” Jiyoung blurted out. Nickhun briefly examined the clothes we were wearing.

    “Like girl’s night you know?” Seungyeon added, hoping that might change Nickhun’s impression of them.

    “Oh yeah,” he nodded understandingly even though I knew he wasn’t buying it. “Nicole, how are you feeling?”

    “I’m a lot better. Thanks for asking,” I smiled slightly.

    “Jiyoung, I think Hara’s looking for us. Let’s go find them,” Seungyeon said, slipping off her seat and linking arms with Jiyoung.

    “Bye Nickhun-sshi!” Jiyoung waved cutely at him and he waved back. I watched, blushing slightly as the two of them disappeared into the crowd.

    It was for a while that I just sat there with him, not saying a word.

    “So…” he said, trying to break the silence. He looked at me and I looked at him and we both smiled. “I’m really sorry about being rude to your boyfriend back at the hospital. That was the last thing you needed.”

    “He’s not my boyfriend,” I snapped before I could stop myself. I sighed, “It’s okay. You were the one who saved me after all. Thank you.”

    “I wasn’t going to make the same mistake I did before,” he muttered before downing his drink. We both knew what we were thinking during the tension that started to build up again.

    “I think I should go,” I said, standing up from my seat. He looked at me with knitted brows and nodded. “I’m sure we’ll see each other again,” I added with a smile before leaving. If I ran into him again after 9 years, I’m sure I would see him again when I least expect it.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Author’s Note: There you go! I actually update within my 2 months period. I already have an idea of how I might end this and I just want to say that it might be a sad ending. I hate reading stories without a happy ending but I just feel like this story deserves a not so perfect ending after all. Life isn’t always about happy endings right? It’s not for sure but just thought I should let you guys know. Maybe I’ll throw in a chapter before New Years. Remember to comment! ^^

    Plainsha: Key isn't going to appear in this one since I think there are enough male roles in this one and I feel like it's already a bit too confusing for me to write. LOL. there's always Don't Forget if you want some nikey ;)

  7. Chapter 9 91's Gathering

    It was early in the morning when the girls got up to go to the salon. Getting their hair and make up done took quite a while and they had other schedules to attend to right after. It was definitely going to be a busy day.

    Nicole was on her phone typing away at a text for Jinwoon. Hey, are you free on Wednesday night? I thought maybe we should have a midnight snack together or something. She pressed the send button and placed the phone on her lap, looking up at her own reflection.

    She glanced over at Hara through the mirror as she sat patiently in her chair while the stylist worked with the straightener. Hara looked up from the magazine she was reading while her hair was being curled, and caught Nicole's eye.

  8. Chapter 13 The Decision

    The heels of my thigh high leather boots clicked loudly in the silence. I followed closely behind him as we walked through the deserted warehouse. The tips of my fingers twitched with excitement, desperately wanting to know why we were here and what he had to show me. I loved surprises.

    We stopped in front of a locked metal door, waiting for the man guarding the door to open it. The first thing I noticed was the dim light hanging from the ceiling in the very centre of the dark room. It was the only source of light in the room, revealing nothing but a man sitting in a chair with his head hanging down and several men who were standing close enough to catch some of the light.

    “Boss,” the men greeted Siwon which he acknowledged with a nod. I looked around him to take a better look at the man who was tied to the chair. Even from afar I could see the sweat dripping from his hair and face. His lips were bleeding and the bruises on his face were forming quickly. It was obvious that they’ve been beating this man to pass time before we came.

    I looked over at Siwon questionably, wondering who this man was. Once again, he gave one of the men a nod to which he responded by grabbing the man’s hair roughly and pulling his head up, giving us a good look of his bloodied face. Still, I couldn’t recognize who he was from how swollen his face was. “Who is he?”

    “The man who had tried to rape you in the parking lot,” he stated, his eyes narrowing slightly.

    I took a step back nervously, already feeling like it wasn’t safe to be in the room anymore. I could still remember clearly the disgusting stench from this man when he was on top of me. My hands reached up to cover my mouth. I wanted to throw up.

    Siwon stepped in front of me taking my wrists gently and pulling my hands from my face. “It’s okay. He can’t do anything to you again,” he said softly, “It’s up to you what happens to him.”

    My thoughts raced, thinking back to all the vicious ways I had thought of killing this man if I ever saw him again. Breaking each and every bone on his body slowly while he cried out in pain or perhaps cutting off his penis so he can never even think about raping another woman again. But now that I did see him, I felt sick just being in the same room and breathing the same air as him. “I don’t care what happens to him. Can we please just go?” I pleaded.

    Siwon looked at me with disappointment for a second before shaking it away and nodded. He placed an arm around my shoulder, rubbing his hand comfortingly along my forearm as he guided me out the room. Although I kept my head down as we exited the room, I didn’t miss the way he turned his head back to look at his men. Even outside the closed door, I still could hear the man’s dreadful cries echoing around the cold abandoned warehouse.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    “Good night,” I said to Siwon as I got out of the car. I closed the car door and watched as he drove off before turning and walking towards the apartment. I stopped short when I recognized Jay’s figure sitting on the bench by the flower bed. He noticed me too and stood up. I stayed in the same spot allowing him to approach me. “What are you doing here?’

    “I should be asking you that. Leaving without saying anything” he said dryly, “But then again, you never tell me anything anyways.”

    “I explained why I moved on the note that was on the fridge. I don’t know if you saw it though,” I said, biting my lip. I did feel bad for not discussing with him first though.

    “I saw the note,” he stated, before narrowing his eyes. “But the note doesn’t explain why you’re getting into Choi Siwon’s car late at night.”

    “That’s none of your business,” I muttered, turning by head away. He grabbed my wrist angrily and jerked me roughly, making me snap my head towards him. The same feeling from the night in the parking lot came bubbling up again. “Don’t touch me!”

    “None of my business? Your business has always been my business since nine years ago!” he said raising his voice, gripping tighter until I winced. My stomach clenched tightly and my breathing grew into anxious pants.

    I used my free hand to try and pry his fingers off me. “Jay Park, you better let me go right now.”

    “You were probably looking for this first thing when you woke up at the hospital right?” he said pulling out my phone from his pocket. The broken key-chain was hanging without the butterfly charm he had given me and there were chips and scratches all over the phone.

    “What’s wrong with you?” I screamed, trying to snatch the phone back but he pulled it away too quickly.

    “I bet you were dying for that ###### to call. And he did. 3 times and he even texted you too. Why did he have to talk to you so urgently?”

    “Are you insane?! Stop it!” I yelled, digging my nails into his hand.

    “It’s not the first time he’s called you either. You two have been calling each other for quite a while,” he said, flipping open my phone and scanning it over. “So how long have you two been ing behind my back?”

    As soon as those words escaped his mouth, my hand lashed out and slapped him hard across the face, his face snapping to the side. I took this time to grab my phone out of his hand and pull my wrist away. I took several steps back from him, holding onto my sore wrist. “I can’t believe you would ever think that. I thought you changed. I thought maybe this time around, we could be different. That you could just give me some time and trust me on it. But I was wrong. Just like how all the other times I thought things would be different.”

    Not willing to cry in front of him and show him that it was killing me on the inside, I turned quickly and ran inside the building, catching the elevator which thankfully was just waiting on the first floor. I took several deep breaths trying to calm myself down and to stop the tears from forming around my eyes but it only made things worse. I clasped my hand over my mouth tightly, not wanting any sobs to escape and wake any of the neighbours up. I stumbled out the elevator and in front of Seungyeon’s unit. My hand fumbled with the keys and the lock, my entire vision blurred with tears which already began rolling down the sides of my face.

    “Nicole?” I heard Seungyeon’s voice from the bathroom.

    I shut the door behind my quickly before sliding down to the floor and pulling my knees up close as I cried loudly. I heard Seungyeon rush out of the bathroom, hitting herself against the sink corner probably, and ask me what happened as she pulled me out of my curled position and into a warm hug.

    I didn’t really understand why it hurt so much. Maybe it was because I had the fear that he would try to hurt me just like the man had in the parking lot. Maybe because the man I was just talking to didn’t seem like the Jay I knew. The Jay I knew would never do something like that, especially not after seeing me laying there in the parking lot like a bird with a broken wing.

    No. He would never.

    That’s when I understood. I understood that he wasn’t the old Jay anymore. He’s changed.

    And if he’s changed, that only means that I need to change too. Change to protect myself. Change to protect myself from people who are trying to hurt me. Like the man in the parking lot. Like Jung In Taek. Like Park Gab Soo. Like Park Jae Bum.

    I don’t want to hurt anymore.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    “Unni!” Jiyoung said happily, rushing over to cling onto my left arm as soon as Seungyeon and I arrived at the mall to meet with them. Seungyeon had called out the girls for me seeing how upset I was last night and decided that maybe hanging out with the girls would cheer me up.

    “Hey,” I grinned at her and Hara, my grin faltering when I saw Gyuri looking the other way with her arms crossed. I pulled out of Jiyoung’s arm gently and approached her. “Unni, are you still mad at me?”

    She turned to look at me, not saying a word. I could tell she was examining my swollen eyes. I saw her eyes soften for a brief second before she flipped her hair back like she usually does when she’s in a good mood or when she wants to break off any awkward tension. “I’m a forgiving person.”

    I giggled, relieved that she wasn’t mad at me anymore. These girls really were all I had. They were the only ones I could really trust and rely on because girls would always understand each other better than guys ever would.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    I was sitting in the lounge, painting Hara’s nails orange with black lines as though she was a tiger while we listened to Seungyeon talk about her relationship with Onew. “Seriously, he took me out for dinner last night and guess what we had again?”

    “Chicken?” I giggled, eyes concentrated on Hara’s nails.

    “Yes! We’ve been eating chicken for the past three dates we’ve gone on! Just because he doesn’t get sick of me does not mean that I don’t!” she said in frustration.

    “I heard guys who eat a lot of chickens will start growing boobs,” Jiyoung said with wide eyes.

    “That’s probably just a rumor,” Hara said, looking over at me to see how I was doing with her nails. I added the last stroke of black on her pinky and placed the brush back in the small bottle. Hara put her hands out in front of her, admiring my work. “I seriously need to learn how to paint nails like you.”

    “Unni, when are you going to do mine next?” Jiyoung complained, pouting.

    “She can do yours after she does mine,” Gyuri said, looking through my case of nail polish. “Can you make mine gold?”

    “You would pick gold,” I said, looking through my case and pulling out a bottle of base coat, gold, white, and clear coat nail polish.

    “When are you going to hook me up with your good looking friend?” Seungyeon said.

    “What good looking friend?” Hara said, suddenly interested in what we were talking about.

    “Nickhun?” I asked, carefully painting the base coat on Gyuri’s hand. She had really long slender fingers which made me jealous.

    “Oh! You mean the really pretty guy who came to see you at the hospital?!” Jiyoung asked, almost jumping out of her seat in excitement.

    “Yeah. I don’t talk to him anymore though,” I told them, not really wanting to talk about guys at the moment.

    “Jaebum-oppa probably wouldn’t want you guys talking much anyways,” Hara said, regretting the words right after they left her mouth. There was a long awkward silence before my phone rang, breaking the silence.

    “Hold on,” I told Gyuri as I placed the brush back in the bottle to pick up my phone. “Hello?”

    “Nicole, come out to the back for a bit,” I recognized Chansung’s voice on the other end.

    “Oh, sure. Why though?” I asked, twisting the lid on the bottle shut and putting it on the table.

    “You’ll see,” he said and hung up.

    “Chansung needs to see me for a second, I’ll be right back,” I announced, “I’ll finish your other nails when I get back.”

    I went out to the back just like Chansung had asked and saw him sitting on the stairs with his back turned to me. I went over and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around and saw me and smiled, standing up.

    “You really owe me,” he said.

    “Why?” I said, cocking my head to the side.

    He reached into his jacket and pulled out a small black rectangular box. I gasped. He grinned mischievously, “What am I getting for this?”

    “Uh… the happiness of helping out a sister?” I said, returning his grin. He handed me the box and I opened it quickly. Inside sat a small handgun. It was a bit smaller than the regular handguns and would probably fit nicely in my clutch. I closed up the box and gave him a big hug, almost knocking him back if he hadn’t grabbed onto the railings. “Have I ever told you that you’re amazing? I love you so much!”

    “That’s it?” he said jokingly.

    I pulled away, hands still hanging around his neck. “Well what do you want?”

    He simply winked and grinned sheepishly. I rolled my eyes and planted a big kiss on his cheek. I let go and skipped back to the door, holding it open with one hand. I turned and stuck my tongue out at him. “Nice try.”

    I went back to the lounge and joined the girls again, throwing the box inside my large black purse.

    “What was that?” Gyuri asked, referring to what I had just tossed inside my bag.

    “Nothing. He just helped me pick up a bracelet I wanted for a while at the mall,” I lied, brushing it off and picking up the nail polish, “Kay, which nails didn’t I do yet?”

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Author's Note: Hey guys! It's October and I finally updated! Sorry, the updates are really slow. I'm updating like once every two months. Ugh. Sorry guys. This writer's block has been pissing me off. I'll probably be updating Don't Forget next since I'm trying to alternate with the updates. I bet you thought Siwon and Nicole were going to have little “something something” going on didn't you? I'm trying my best to cut back on the smut unless that's what you guys want. Remember to comment and I'll try my best to update soon! ^^

  9. Chapter 12 The Move

    I opened my eyes, blinking several times and wiping the sleep from my eyes. I noticed a tall figure standing at the end of my bed, putting the a small bouquet of yellow lilies in a vase of water. I pushed myself to sit up and he immediately turned to look at me.

    “Siwon-sshi,” I greeted him.

    “Nicole-sshi. How are you feeling?” he asked, taking a seat beside the bed.

    “I’m a bit better, thank you. What are you doing here?

    “I called your phone several times and nobody picked up and then I heard about what happened,” he frowned, eyeing the cut on my lip.

    “Oh,” I said, still feeling surprised that he would come to visit me in the hospital. “Did you need me for something?”

    “I found out a bit on Jung In Taek.” My ears perked up at my appa’s name. “He recently borrowed money from us. $2000. He’s a heavy gambler, always borrowing money from loan sharks. Didn’t he borrow money from you guys?”

    I nodded, “He asked for a one week extension.”

    “It’s not the first time he’s borrowed money from us. The several times that he did, he also asked for a one week extension. It’s weird though. He always manages to cough up enough money by the end of the week,” Siwon said, taking a seat in the chair beside the bed.

    I nodded, thinking deeply, “What do you think he does?”

    “I’ll ask someone to look on that.”

    “Thank you so much. This means a lot to me,” Nicole smiled.

    “Don’t worry about it. Can I ask why you need to know all this though?” he asked looking at me with careful eyes.

    I froze for a second, unsure of how to answer him. No one needs to know that he’s my appa right now.

    “Forget I asked,” he said, noticing that I don’t really want to answer him.

    “He’s the reason I’m living this way,” I finally said, thinking back to the reason I’m even associated with everyone in my life right now. It was all because of him.

    Siwon’s brow quirked up in curiosity but decided that it was best to not press on. He stood up from his seat and smiled, “I have to go now. Remember to get plenty of rest.”

    I smiled back at him and nodded. He left the room quietly, leaving me to think by myself. Sometimes, I wonder why Jaebum couldn’t be so calm and composed like him.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    The following day, I was discharged from the hospital. They insisted that I stay for counselling but I told them I didn’t need it. The girls were the ones to pick me up.

    “Jay said he had something to handle first, so he’ll see you later tonight at home,” Jiyoung explained to me.

    I nodded, not having a problem with not seeing him at all.

    “So, I guess we should drive you home and let you rest up a bit?” Hara said, looking at me to see if that sounds like a good plan.

    “Actually… I was just wondering if I could borrow someone’s place for a bit,” I said, looking at the girls.

    “Wait, why?” Gyuri asked, with one brow up.

    “I need a break from Jay. And don’t think I’ll be able to deal with guys for a while after what’s happened,” I said, looking down at the floor hoping one of them would understand.

    “I’m so sorry that happened,” Seungyeon said, giving me a hug, “You can stay over at my place if you want.”

    “Really?” I asked happily.

    “Yeah sure, you don’t have any bad sleeping habits right? No drooling or anything? I wouldn’t want to wake up in the middle of the night because you decided to sleep like you’re going through a war,” Seungyeon said.

    “No! I promise! You can tie me up if you’re scared I’ll kick you,” I laughed.

    “Great, let’s go back to your place and pack some clothes then,” Seungyeon said.

    “Wait, shouldn’t you talk to Jay about this first?” Gyuri said with her arms crossed. I looked at her and then at Seungyeon.

    “Yeah, you should let him know. He’ll get worried,” Hara said, with an unsure expression.

    “Gyuri-unni, you’re going to see him tonight at the club right? Can you just tell him for me please?” I pleaded.

    “I don’t want to be the messanger between you two. If you have anything to say to him, just tell him yourself,” Gyuri said coldly. The four of us watched as she turned on her heel and walked away.

    “I’ll go with her. I’ll call you guys with anything,” Hara said, walking after her.

    “I’m coming too then!” Jiyoung said, running in her heels to keep up with them.

    “Just ignore her. She’s probably having mood swings again,” Seungyeon said, patting me on the shoulder comfortingly. I looked at her and smiled. “Let’s go, I have my car.”

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    “Are you done yet?” Seungyeon asked from the kitchen.

    I looked down on the bed where my large duffle bag laid. I stuffed in as much clothes as I could fit in there. Clothes are my life. Sadly, I couldn’t bring all my shoes with me. I only picked out a pair of black boots, a pair of flip flops and two pairs of heels. I could always borrow from Seungyeon if anything.

    “Should I grab my toothbrush and stuff too?” I called out to her.

    “No it’s okay. We can just buy one from the convenience store if I don’t have an extra one at home,” she said, coming into the room to check on me. “Are you sure you want to move out for a while? You could always just make him sleep on the couch. I doubt Jay would mind.”

    “You know I would never let him sleep on the couch in his own house,” I said, throwing my ipod, and wallet into my small purse. I slung it over my neck and grabbed the heavy duffle bag. “Kay, let’s go.”

    “Are you going to leave your car here too?” she asked, heading to the elevator.

    “I don’t even know where they are,” I frowned, looking around the living room. I had almost forgotten about my car keys. I probably dropped them in the parking lot when struggling with that ######. I had lost the cellphone charm that Jay got me too.“######, and I need a new phone too.”

    “Great. Maybe Jay or your extremely good looking friend from before picked it up for you?” she said as I walked around the room trying to see if my car keys were laying anywhere. I passed by the sticky pad on the fridge and decided to leave Jay a note. I couldn’t just leave without saying anything.

    “My extremely good friend’s name is Nickhun, and he’s not that good looking,” I lied, dropping the duffle bag on the ground to write the note. He was probably the most flawless human being I’ve seen in my life but I’m supposed to be angry at him right now.

    “Yeah well if you don’t want him. I’m always interested,” she said just as the elevator came.

    “What happened to Onew?” I asked, laughing at how fast my friends go through guys. I grabbed the duffle bag from the floor with a grunt and penguin walked my way to the elevator.

    “About him… sometimes I wonder if chicken is more important to him than I am.”

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    When I entered the club with Seungyeon, we saw Hara and Jiyoung sitting with Gyuri who still had a very annoyed expression on her face.

    “You can go over first, she still looks pissed off at me,” I smiled at Seungyeon when I saw them looking over at us.

    “Are you sure?”

    “Yeah, I need to talk to Chansung anyways,” I said, pointing over to the bar where he was sitting, talking to the bartender.

    “Alright then, I’ll find you later,” she grinned before going off to join the girls.

    I snaked through the crowds to Chansung, slipping into the seat beside him in the bar, “Chansung, I need you to help me with something.”

    He jumped in his seat in surprise, “######, you’re out of the hospital already?”

    I nodded, stifling a laugh.

    “What do you need? You never need my help for anything,” he said, looking at me with surprise.

    “There’s a first for everything,” I grinned, “I need you to get me a small handgun. Something small and compact if possible?”

    “Woah woah, a gun? Who pissed you off?” he said, holding his hands up. “You can always just get one of us guys to do it for you.”

    “This is personal,” I said playfully. “So will you do it? Please?”

    “I could, but I’m not sure if I should. Who knows what you’ll do with it,” he frowned.

    “I’m not going to do anything stupid with it! I just need something to carry around with me to make me feel safer,” I said, faking the depression in my voice.

    He sighed in defeat, “Okay, I’ll see what I can find.”

    I jumped out of my seat and gave him a hug, “Have I ever told you how much I loved you?”

    “Don’t do anything too dangerous. If you do, don’t get caught by the cops,” he grinned sheepishly. “So, how are you feeling?”

    “I’m better.” I took my seat again and waved at the bartender to give me my usual.

    “I heard you moved in with Seungyeon? What’d Jay say?”

    “I don’t know, I haven’t seen him around. I just left a note on the kitchen table letting him know I needed some space,” I shrugged.

    “Well, he’s been pretty moody ever since he argued with that guy at the hospital. Who was he anyways?” Chansung asked, glancing at her out of the corner of his eyes.

    “No one special. Just a friend.” I haven’t seen Nickhun ever since I went to the hospital and I guess I won’t be bumping into him since we don’t live in the same building anymore. Nicole felt a tap on her shoulder before Junsu slipped into the seat on the other side of her.

    “Back already?” he asked, eyeing the scab at the corner of my lip. I was recovering faster than expected.

    “Yeah,” I smiled, “I didn’t want you guys missing me too much.”

    “Definitely,” he laughed. “You like to cause trouble even after just getting discharged from the hospital don’t you?”

    I gave him a questioning look.

    “You know what I’m talking about. Moving out of Jay’s without talking to him beforehand? He was worried about you the entire time. Did you even see him yet?” Junsu asked, folding his hands over each other on the counter and playing with his fingers.

    I shook my head; maybe I was being a bit too heartless.

    “Well, you should go find him to get your phone and car keys back from him. And while you’re at it, have a talk with him or something,” Junsu said, looking at me as if I was his pupil that he was teaching how to get through life.

    “I guess…” I said quietly, staring blankly at my drink. I flinched when a long arm draped around my shoulders.

    “Oh will you look who it is. I hate to interrupt you guys, but the boss needs to borrow this miss here for a while,” Junho announced.

    I rolled my eyes at the mention of Gab Soo, “Why?”

    He shrugged, “I don’t know.”

    “He’s so annoying,” I groaned, standing up from my seat. Junho quickly filled my seat to have one of his boy talks with Chansung and Junsu while I went to find Gab Soo.

    “Nicole! You’re not feeling too scraped up are you?” was the first thing he said to me when I stepped in his office.

    I shook my head and smiled, “Of course not. Just a few scratches here and there. Did you need me for something?”

    “I just wanted to welcome my daughter back from the hospital, is that too much?” he said, feigning the hurt in his voice, “But now that you ask, I do have something I’d like you to do for me.”

    My smile curved into a knowing smirk.

    “Chansung has to do something else for me which is why he can’t go pick up the money. I need you to go get the money from Jung In Taek,” he stated.

    My jaw tightened, knowing that he was challenging me. And he chose to make me do this right after I got out of the hospital because he wants me to have that flashback of what the man did to me nine years ago. If I said no, he would know that I still had a weak spot for him and he would use it against me.

    “I guess I’ll ask Tae-”

    “No, it’s fine. I’m up for it,” I finally answered.

    His brow quirked up in surprise for a second but he quickly composed himself, smiling in amusement. “You can go in two days.”

    I nodded understandingly, “Is that all?”

    I took his grunt as a yes and quietly left the room. No longer in the mood, I decided I wanted to go back to Seungyeon’s place. She had given me an extra set of keys to her house already, so I could just take the taxi back to her place.

    Set to go back, I walked out of the club only to have a pearl white Audi R8 pull up in front of me. It wasn’t any car I recognized.

    The window rolled down and I was greeted by Siwon’s smile. The way the corner of his lips curved up more than normal always reminded me of the Joker. “Do you have time?”

    Without thinking twice, I got into his car, not realizing the Jay had been watching the entire time.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Author’s Note: Ah! I forgot to update here! Sorry for the long wait. I’ve been busy working on two other fanfics. Yes yes, I know I start too many new stories. But I’m just typing those two for my own entertainment. I already have 30 pages of each typed up. Haha maybe I’ll decide to post them up one day. I already have a good idea of how to continue this, it’s just the writing it out part that’s a bit difficult. Be sure to comment though! ^^

  10. Chapter 8 A New Friend

    That day, the girls were filming for Idol Army and the guests that week just so happened to be 2AM. The four boys were from JYP and every single one of them were amazing singers. Like everyone else, the girls would've never thought these four were good at singing just by looking at them.

    Jokwon could be a comedian if really wanted to be. Everything he did made the girls laugh. He was the clown in the group which was why he fit so well with Hara. She also was the one in the group who liked to fool around. Seulong was a bit of a naggy mother. Somewhat similar to Goddess Gyuri right? Changmin was the oldest in the group and wasn't the best looking idol out there either. He reminded the girls of Mc Mong. No one would've thought that Jiyoung would be his favourite member. There was a large age gap between them after all but Jiyoung didn't mind. He was a nice oppa. Sadly, Seungyeon was stuck with Jinwoon.

    She hadn't expected for both Jinwoon and Nicole to both yell out “Freeze!” when she was going to tag Jinwoon to be her partner. She wasn't surprised that Nicole would yell out “Freeze!” since the girls all knew that the girls tended to be free for all when it came to coupling. Especially after last time when Nicole had stole Sungmin away from Jiyoung while on the Idol Show with Super Junior.

    But Jinwoon? Didn't he give her the eye contact when it was his turn to dance. He even stood in front of her and said “Please stamp me!”

    But she did see them talking during the break though and perhaps they had gotten to know each other better then? Whatever it was, she didn't really care; just curious.

    She actually felt happy that the two of them became partners. They were both the same age and got to know each other better through the filming of the show. Jinwoon was a nice polite guy and Nicole needed someone like that. Seungyeon watched the two happily as they moved onto the quiz part of the show.

    Nicole hammered away at the balloon, forgetting that she was missing and hitting Jinwoon's head half the time. The only thing she was thinking about right now was the steak. The last time she had steak was back when she was in America. She missed the steak her mother used to always make for her.

    Jinwoon who knew nothing about this girl besides the fact they were the same age, was a bit taken back by how violent she was. He wasn't used to such an outgoing girl. Perhaps it was because she was from America. There wasn't a thick wall between males and females like Korea.

    The entire time, he was thinking, 'She's insane. I'm going to die like this.' It didn't mean he wasn't having fun though.

    “Are you okay, Jinwoon-sshi?” Boom asked him.

    “Of course not!” he erupted, jokingly. Sadly, when she answered, she was wrong again.

    Just as she was about to take another swing at the balloon, he grabbed the balloon and stood up abruptly, pretending to be angry, “Stop hitting my head!”

    “Come on!” she whined ,grabbing his arm and pushing him back gently to sit down. Laughing with disbelief, he sat back down for her to continue hitting his head with the toy hammer. Before she could even pop the balloon, Jiyoung answered the question correctly.

    Jinwoon didn't know if it was because of her outgoing personality that rubbed off on her or not but he felt comfortable enough to reach for her neck as though he was choking her. He wasn't the type of guy who would usually joke around about choking a girl. Something about her made him feel... comfortable? Like he was fooling around with a younger sister. They even had the same sense of humor.

    When the steak was served to Gyuri and Seulong, everyone crowded around the food, drool dripping from their mouths. Jinwoon noticed this and decided to step back and sit back down, “We have to keep our pride.”

    Nicole who had noticed her partner backing up, had also taken a seat. When she turned and laughed at his comment, Jinwoon realized that what he said was funny and laughed with her. Only she would laugh at something like that.

    At the end of the filming, the staff members and the KARA girls invited 2AM to join them for dinner to celebrate for the last filming of this season's Idol Army. Since it was quite late already, they were able to find an empty restaurant to eat at. They couldn't all sit together and sat at tables of 8. KARA sat with their manager and a couple of their stylists unnis. The 2AM boys sat at the table across the room from the girls with their manager and some of the camera men.

    “Can I get everyone's attention please?” The PD yelled, with the girls standing beside him.

    When the room silenced, Gyuri began to speak, “Thank you for taking care of us during all those filmings. Thank you for all the hard work. This really helped publicize KARA and not all groups have this opportunity so thank you very much.”

    The girls gave a bow to everyone in the room as everyone began to clap and cheer. They began to tear up, feeling sad that this was really the end. Resting a comforting hand on Seungyeon's shoulder, the PD held up his cup in his other hand, “It was really nice working with you girls and we really hope you guys continue to do well in the future. Cheers for KARA!”

    Everyone applauded as the girls smiled and returned to their seats. The dinner resuming once again. When the girls were full and just sitting waiting for everyone else to finish, Nicole felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned her head and found Jinwoon smiling so big at her that she could barely see his eyes.

    “Hello!” she said in a chirpy American like way.

    “I was just wondering...” he said nervously. It wasn't everyday that he asked girls for their number. Nicole tilted her head to the side questionably, waiting for him to finish. She noticed how he was holding onto his phone so tightly and understood what he was asking.

    “Oh! Yeah, sure!” she said, taking his phone from his hand and punching in her digits. She pulled out her phone too and handed it to Jinwoon for his number. Seungyeon who was watching, nudged Hara with her elbow gently.

    “What?” Hara asked, and then realized what Seungyeon was grinning at. The two began to stare hard at Nicole and Jinwoon, purposely making it obvious that they were acting strange.

    “Here you go!” Nicole smiled, handing him back his phone. He took his phone happily, stopping when he noticed how Seungyeon and Hara had been watching them the entire time. Jinwoon blushed and just smiled before quickly turning and returning back to his table. Nicole turned back to her food, still unaware of the girls across from her until she looked up. “What?”

    “Jinwoon's a nice guy,” Seungyeon said casually.

    “And he's tall. Didn't you say you liked tall guys?” Hara winked at Nicole.

    Trying not to blush at her members teasing, she simply stuck her tongue out at them and went back to eating.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    That night, she decided to call Key. They tried to call each other as much as possible but it was hard for Key because of how popular SHINee has been since their debut. She thought he should know about Jinwoon though. Key was the first guy Nicole has liked after all and she thought he should know about how the girls were teasing her about Jinwoon.

    “Aren't you tired? I thought you just finished filming Idol Army,” Key said, not wanting her to purposely stay up to talk to him on the phone. She had told him yesterday she would be filming today and he knew how long and tiring filmings for variety shows were.

    “Yeah but I just wanted to call you,” she said, laying on her bed. The girls were in the living room watching television together and Nicole liked to use this time to call him. “Are you sleeping soon?”

    “No,” he told her, sitting on the couch and flicking through the channels. “What's up?”

    “We did a filming with 2AM today,” she told him, rolling over to face the wall.

    “Oh? How was it?” he asked, half of his attention was focused on pushing Jonghyun away who was trying to listen in.

    “It was good. I got to know Jinwoon-sshi more. He's really nice,” she said, a bit curious as to what Key's reaction was like.

    Key paused at the mention of another boy's name. Nicole talked about Minhwa before, and Sungmin too but something about her voice told him that this was different. That maybe this Jinwoon is a threat to his relationship with Nicole after all. Not wanting to be disrupted by his fellow member, he went into their bedroom, locking the door behind him. It was a good thing they had a lock on the door. He already made it clear to them that he didn't like it when they tried to listen in on his phone calls.

    “He's the same age as us too!” Nicole added when Key didn't say anything.

    “Oh really?” Key said, trying to keep his voice even. He didn't want Nicole thinking he was some sort of possessive short-tempered child who didn't know how to keep his feelings in check. It was him who had proposed to start off fresh in the first place.

    “He's really polite and it would be so cool if the three of us became good friends. We could start our own '91 line with Hara too!” Nicole said excitedly. Hara and her have grown a lot closer from the beginning and their age had a lot to do with it.

    “Yeah, maybe we should go out for dinner sometime,” he said. He hadn't actually had the chance to talk to Hara before even though Nicole talks about her all the time.

    “Dinner? Is your manager going to let you?” she asked, knowing how strict their managers were. They had just finished their debut promotions and any mess ups right now was not-acceptable. They were already working on their second single.

    Key frowned, knowing how Nicole would get upset sometimes when Key cancelled on her because some last minute schedule popped up or because he couldn't sneak out of the dorm. “I'm sure he won't mind as long as we hide ourselves well.”

    “You're Key now. Not Kim Kibum,” she said with a sad smile, thinking back to the times when they would go to the movies together and how he would sometimes take her out for a midnight snack when they ended training around the same time.

    Feeling determined to prove to her that he was the same person, he said, “Let's go Wednesday night, okay?”

    “I need to ask Jinwoon and Hara to see if they can. Are you sure you won't get in trouble though?” Nicole didn't want Key to get in trouble because of her.

    “Yeah, don't worry about it. I promise I'll sneak out for sure, okay?” Once he promised something, he wouldn't go back on it and Nicole knew that.

    “Okay,” she was still a bit unsure as to whether this was such a good idea or not. She did miss seeing him but if Key got in trouble because of her, she would feel even worse. Before the two could say anything else, the door opened and Hara hopped in with Jiyoung.

    “Unni, Gyuri unni said we have to sleep now,” Jiyoung told her.

    “Oh alright,” she said, even though she wanted to talk to Key longer, “I have to go now. I'll talk to you later.”

    “Alright, good night,” he said, disappointed.

    “Good night,” she said before hanging up.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Author's Note: JINWOON APPEARS! I was actually planning on dropping this but after reading the comments and seeing how everyone loves this story so much, I decided to continue! ^^ I changed the pm list btw. From now on, if you'd like a pm, you have to comment on the previous chapter. This is so I know who's actually reading and who's not. :P Also because I like comments. kekeke. I have an idea on what i want to write for the next chapter so hopefully I'll update before November. :P

  11. WOw. I knew it. Key's girlfriend was going to be a backstabbing lying b.tch. Please add me to the pm list. Ugh, I really hope there's at least one person who will help her get through this. another unsuspecting male idol perhaps? that somehow grow close with nicole and is there for her and all? ;D IDK. PM LIST PLEASE AND UPDATE SOON ♥

  12. Woot~ I'm back with another oneshot. :thumbup: I'm so into writing random fanfics these days which I have not posted yet. Probably won't. Maybe later :) Oh gosh, I haven't even concentrated on updating my other ones too. -gets shot- anyways! Enjoy! ^^

    ~~~~~

    Kibum stirred in bed, being awaken by a delicious smell. He opened his eyes slowly and blinked several times. Turning his head to his left, he saw that she was already up and was probably the culprit for the smell circulating around their home.

    He kicked off the blankets and rolled off the bed in his white wifebeater and checkered boxers. Ruffling his own bed hair, he walked into the kitchen quietly with his eyes still half closed. Just as he had expected, he saw her standing by the stove with her back turned to him. Nicole let out a yelp when a pair of arms snaked around her waist, pulling her back against his chest.

  13. Chapter 7 A New Beginning

    The KARA girls had just arrived at the studio to meet with the SHINee boys to decide on what to do for their collaboration.

    “The boys are on their way back from another schedule so you guys can just hang out around here for a bit first,” their manager told them. The girls nodded and looked around the room a bit. Nothing was really special about it. It was a regular dance studio with a wall of mirrors in the front. There was a stereo system in the corner of the room and a washroom.

    “Nicole!” Hyoyeon called, poking her head out from the dance studio.

    “Oh hey!” Nicole said, running over and giving her a quick hug.

    The SNSD girls were in the practice room next door when they heard that KARA came.

    “Nicole!” Tiffany shrieked, running over to give Nicole a hug too. “What are you doing here?”

    “We're doing a collab with SHINee for Christmas,” Nicole chirped out happily.

    “Ou~ a collab with a boy group,” Sunny teased as the girls all laughed.

    The SNSD girls smiled and greeted the other KARA members before turning back to Nicole. Gyuri was busy talking to Jiyoung and Seungyeon about something, while Hara stood awkwardly on the side, unsure what to do.

    Nicole pulled Hara over and introduced her to the SNSD girls, “This is Hara!”

    “Hey! I'm Tiffany,” Tiffany gave the girl one of her eye smiles.

    “N-nice to meet you!” Hara stuttered.

    “Wow! Your eyes are so pretty,” Jessica said, staring at the girls face closely.

    “And you have such nice skin,” Yuri said, feeling Hara's cheeks.

    “Your skin is more smooth than mine!” Hara said, blushing.

    “I heard you and Seungri from Big Bang are good friends!” Sunny asked curiously.

    “We used to go to the same school,” Hara answered. Nicole smiled and walked off a bit from the girls to leave them to talk.

    “So, what are you guys planning to do for the collaboration?” Hyoyeon asked, pulling Nicole to the side.

    “Well we're not sure yet. We're supposed to be deciding with them today.”

    “They're really nice and funny guys. You'll have fun,” Hyoyeon smiled.

    The girls began to quiet down a bit when they heard loud male voices from down the hall.

    “Man I'm so tired,” a voice groaned.

    “Me too, Taemin,” someone agreed.

    “Yeah well we're going to see KARA soon, that should waken you up,” another voice said.

    “If you want to pretty~ Everybody pretty~” someone began to sing.

    “Shut the hell up, Jonghyun,” an irritated voice snapped.

    “Why the hell are you was such a pissy pussycat, Key?” Jonghyun said, just as they turned into the studio. Key was in the middle of rolling his eyes when he ended up walking into Jonghyun's back.

    “Yah! Don't just stop all o-” Key froze too when he realized why Jonghyun stopped. Onew ended up walking into Key's back which resulted in Minho walking into Onew's back and Taemin walking into Minho's.

    Everyone in the room froze and turned their attention to the boys who had decided to join them.

    “You guys are late!” Yuri said.

    “Yeah! And why are you guys just standing there, have you never seen girls before?” Sunny laughed. Jonghyun shook his head slowly, still in shock.

    The SNSD girls exchanged glances and giggled.

    “Well we better get going then,” Tiffany said, as the girls formed a train and slipped pass the SHINee boys.

    “Have fun,” Seohyun smiled.

    “Don't do anything stupid,” Hyoyeon warned them as she passed by.

    The only ones left in the room were the SHINee boys standing awkwardly by the door and the KARA girls who were still standing there, staring at them with wide eyes.

    “Well then,” Gyuri said, as the girls quickly formed a line and greeted, “Annyeonghaseyo! KARA imnida!”

    Onew was the first to snap back to reality as he stumbled foreward, causing the Seungyeon and Jiyoung to giggle a bit.

    “Annyeonghaseyo! Shiny SHINee imnida!” he said by himself. He looked back at his members and nudged them. They all snapped out of it and bowed, stuttering things the girls couldn't hear. After 5 minutes of awkward silence, they decided to all just sit down and talk.

    “So um... should we start by introducing ourselves?” Onew said, trying to break the awkward tension.

    “Alright, well I'm Gyuri.”

    “And I'm Seungyeon.”

    “I'm the maknae, Jiyoung.”

    “Hara.”

    “I'm Nicole,” she said, glancing at Key who was looking at her before looking away.

    “I'm Onew,”

    “Jonghyun here.”

    “I'm Minho”

    “Maknae Taemin.”

    “And Key.” Nicole looked up timidly at him, feeling her cheeks heat up.

    “We saw a picture of Taemin when he dressed up as girl before! He looked so cute!” Hara said, pointing at Taemin who covered his face in embarrassment.

    “Ugh! They made me do it!” Taemin cried, pointing fingers at his hyungs.

    “You agreed to it,” Onew said.

    “Yeah, you even checked yourself out in the mirror too,” Minho added. Taemin's jaw dropped in response as everyone laughed.

    “Okay guys. What do you guys think we should do for this?” Seungyeon asked, trying to actually get some work done.

    “How about we just dress up as Santa and throw candy out?” Minho said.

    “Santa's a boy though! We can't dress up as Santa!” Jiyoung said.

    “Then how about you girls wear a red nose and be rudolph,” Jonghyun suggested. The girls frowned.

    “We'll look silly!” Gyuri said, crossing her arms.

    “I think it's sort of cute,” Jonghyun said.

    “Why don't you guys dress up as rudolph and we'll be Santa then,” Hara grinned.

    As everyone was discussing, Nicole and Key were the only quiet ones. Nicole kept her eyes down as she played with her fingers, glancing up at Key occasionally. He looked so different from before. His hair changed, and he definitely grew taller. He seemed more mature and quiet than before. She didn't like it. It made her feel more distant from him; like he's a complete stranger. He was anything but a stranger though. He kept looking at her and it made her heart skip a beat every time their eyes met.

    They all stopped talking and turned their attention to their two maangers who had just entered the room.

    “Since you guys are taking forever to decide what to do, we just decided for you guys,” KARA's manager said.

    “SHINee will start by singing Silent Night and then KARA will come out later and you guys will sing Jingle Bell Rock together. You guys will have to get in pairs though,” the SHINee manager announced.

    They all sat silently as they suddenly decided to take interest in staring at their hands and the ceiling.

    “Let us know when you guys have decided,” SHINee's manager said as the two of them left the room.

    “Well then...”Jonghyun said, not liking the tension in the air.

    “Kay, so who's going to pair up with who?” Gyuri asked as they all exchanged looks.

    “Well the maknae's can be a pair of course,” Onew said looking at Jiyoung and Taemin. They exchanged looks and shrugged, not having a problem with it

    “Next, the shortest people in the group should pair up,” Seungyeon grinned looking at Gyuri while Onew threw Jonghyun an evil smile.

    “Yah!” Jonghyun said looking for something to throw at Onew.

    “Since you two seem to be compatible with each other already, you two can work together,” Gyuri said to Seungyeon and Onew, flipping her hair back.

    “So that just leaves us?” Hara said, pointing at herself and looking at Minho, Key, and Nicole.

    “Just do rock paper scissors and the losers will pair up and the winners can pair up,” Jonghyun said, leaning back on his hands.

    Nicole and Hara did rock paper scissors while Minho and Key did rock paper scissors. Both Hara and Minho cried out victoriously while Key and Nicole were frozen with their scissors still sticking out.

    “W-wait! Best two out of three!” Key stuttered.

    Nicole felt a bit offended by how desperate Key sounded. Did he not want to pair up with her that badly?

    Minho sighed and complied with Key, but the outcome was the same. “See hyung, I still win.”

    Key shot daggers at Minho for bragging and rubbing it in his face. Minho held up his hands in defence and laughed, not wanting to anger him further.

    “Have you guys decided yet?” KARA's manager said, coming back in the room.

    When they nodded in response, he smiled, “Great! You guys can start practising and then we'll see each other again next week to start practising the placements. Right now, you girls have another schedule to go to.”

    “Already?” Hara said. The girls looked at the clock and realized that their hour and a half had flown by. They all stood up and bowed, saying their goodbyes as they left their dance studio.

    Key watched Nicole's turned back hoping that she would turn back. Once. Just once would be enough for him. And she did. But her eyes weren't gleaming or shining with happiness like they once were. They were filled with sadness and disappointment.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    “Okay let's see you guys sing Silent Night first,” SHINee's manager told them.

    The girls watched with admiration in their eyes as the boys sang with angelic voices none of them would thought they had. When they ended, the girls applauded for them.

    “That's pretty good,” their manager nodded in approval. “Jonghyun you need to practice some more on the words though. Key can help you.” Jonghyun nodded.

    “Now for the the next part...first you guys will all just sing in a line, boy girl boy girl order, okay? Doesn't really matter who stands next to who. Get in a line right now,” KARA's manager directed. They all quickly fell into a line just as they were asked. Key was standing at one end and Nicole was standing at the other, beside Taemin. “Okay, then when you guys start singing the verse, you'll do it in pairs. The girls will be on one side and the boys will be on the other side. Get into your partners first.”

    Nicole looked over at Key and walked over to him shyly. The two of them nodded awkwardly at each other and stood beside each other, leaving a large gap between them. They still haven't said a single word to each other yet.

    “Okay, now you stand here and you stand here,” the manager's said as they ordered them into their positions.

    “It will be in the order you guys are in so remember where you're standing,” SHINee's manager said.

    “Gyuri you'll sing the first line with Jonghyun-sshi, Seungyeon and Onew will sing the next and then Nicole and Key will the last. Hara, Minho-sshi, Jiyoung, and Taemin-sshi, you guys can just do a little dance thing together,” he told them.

    “Let's do a run through first just to practice the beginning first.” Onew suggested.

    The managers nodded and they all got into their positions. Everything went smoothly besides the large gaps left between all the members at the beginning.

    “You guys are going to have to stand closer than that if you all want to fit on the stage,” SHINee's manager told them.

    “Remember that for next time, now you guys can start practising with your partners and decide what you guys are going to do when it's your turn,” KARA's manager told them before going off to the three pairs with singing parts and giving them their lines.

    Nicole and Key stood in their spots, away from each other, as the other partners got together to discuss.

    “What are you guys waiting for?” SHINee's manager said to the two of them.

    Key and Nicole looked at each other and back at the ground.

    “No need to be shy. Now hurry up and come up with something so you guys can start rehearsing,” the manager said as he pushed the two together.

    “So...what do you want to do?” Nicole asked quietly.

    “I don't know,” he answered in a dull voice.

    Nicole's lips pressed into a thin line, feeling more and more like they'll never be able to talk normally again.

    “For those of you who are singing, I'll make it easier for you guys. Just concentrate more on singing instead of on the dancing part,” SHINee's manager said, resulting in a groan from the other two pairs who weren't singing.

    By the end of the session, Nicole and Key came up with nothing. They hadn't talked or done anything besides watch the other groups.

    “Let's see what you guys have,” their managers said when their practice session was almost over.

    Nicole and Key watched as the two singing pairs went before them. All they really did was bounce on the spot and sing. Key leaned into Nicole slightly and whisper, “Just bounce on the spot and sing like them.”

    Nicole was a bit surprised by how close he was for that brief moment but quickly composed herself and nodded. They did the same as the other two pairs who sang before them, trying to not seem awkward at all. They sighed in relief when their turn was over and the last two pairs went. Their managers, however, didn't look very happy with what they saw at the end of the session.

    “You guys did fine,” KARA's manager said, pointing at the two dancing pairs who smiled proudly at their compliment.

    “But you guys,” SHINee's manager looked at the three couples who were singing, “Can you guys try to seem a bit happier? And don't just bounce on the spot and sing, make some eye contact with each other or something. Do a little dance? I feel awkward just watching you guys.”

    “Sorry,” they all apologized.

    “We'll see guys next week then,” KARA's manager said, signalling for the girls it was time to leave. They said their goodbyes to SHINee and the manager and followed the manager out.

    “Nicole wait!”

    Nicole felt her heart stop for a second. Was he actually talking to her?

    She turned around slowly and saw Key approaching her. A part of her was too scared to listen to what he had to say next but a bigger part of her was curious as to what he had to desperately tell her.

    He stopped in front of her and looked down at her. She looked up at him with wide eyes, waiting anxiously for him to say what he wanted to say. Her eyes softened when she saw the corner of his lips curve up slightly, “Let's just try and do our best okay?”

    Smiles must be contagious because just his small smile alone caused her to grin from ear to ear. She nodded earnestly and turned to join her members and manager who were waiting for her outside.

    Key stood frozen to the floor, staring at the empty door. He missed seeing that smile.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    The next two sessions went by smoothly. They managed to come up with something for their part and were less awkward with each other. Their conversations increased but were still limited to only talking about their performance. They didn't dare to make jokes with each other, not sure if they were still in that comfort level with each other anymore.

    Little did she know about the many nights he clutched onto his phone, debating on whether to call her or not. In the end, he didn't. He was scared that she won't pick up or even worse; find out that she changed her number without telling him. Her number was the only communication they had between them. He didn't want to know he lost that too.

    The next thing they knew, they were performing on stage together. The performance that the two of them have been looking forward to in so long. They did a great job together, not giving off an uncomfortable vibe between them at all. They even gave each other a high five. Sadly, the performance was short and it ended in a blink of an eye.

    As soon as they were off the stage,both groups were rushed into their own change rooms to not block the other staff members and idols from getting on the stage and performing.

    Key passed by KARA's dressing room with the rest of the SHINee members, glancing inside to see Nicole sitting by herself.. Nicole just so happened to look up and caught his eye in the mirror. He stopped walking and continued staring at her, not sure about what to do in this situation. Should he just say hi or just keep walking?

    When she smiled and waved at him, his heart made the decision for him. His members stopped and turned back to check on what happened to Key, only to see him knocking on the door.

    “What's he doing?” Jonghyun asked Onew who just shrugged. They all saw Key walk into the room and decided to see who he was talking to. They saw that Nicole and Key were too busy having a conversation to notice them poking their noses in the room.

    “Let's just find him later,” Onew smiled, before turning his back and continuing to walk with the other members following behind.

    “Hey,” he said.

    “Hello,” she chirped.

    “Where are the other girls?” he asked her.

    “I think they're all in the other room changing,” she answered simply. The two of them sensed an awkward silence begin to drawl on as the two continued to just stare at each other.

    “Um...” Key said, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. Nicole giggled at his failed attempt of trying to lighten the tension.

    “Can I talk to you for a bit?” Key asked.

    “Um...sure,” Nicole said, biting her lip nervously. What were they going to talk about.

    “How have you been?” he asked, taking a seat beside her.

    “Tired,” she said, the smile slipping from her face. She was tired from the many hours of training they had. She was tired from their promotion activities. She was tired from only getting a few hours of sleep if any at all. She was tired from acting like didn't miss Key. She was tired from acting like she wasn't overly excited to see him every week. And she was tired from pretending that she wasn't tired from all this.

    “Yeah,” he agreed with her. He didn't debut long ago but he was already exhausted from their schedules. But this was what he had worked so hard for. That was when he remembered what he had said to her a year ago. “I told you we would see each other on stage.”

    “I know,” she managed to squeak out. She looked down at her hands, hiding her face with her hair. She felt her throat begin to tighten and her eyes sting with tears. She missed him so much. There were so many times when she felt like giving up just so she could be with him. There was so much she wanted to tell him.

    Key saw a tear drop from Nicole's face and onto her hands, causing him to feel the sadness wash over him as well. He looked down at his clenched fists and mumbled loud enough just for her to hear, “I missed you.”

    She wiped the tears from her cheeks and nodded to show that she did too. If she said anything, she knew that she would lose it. And it was impossible for her to lose it here.

    “Let's just try to start fresh okay? As friends,” he said, trying to sound more hopeful than sad. This was the only way for them to talk normally again. To forget everything that happened before and to just think about the present.

    The sound of his heart pumping rang loudly in his ear as he waited in the long silence for her to give him some sort of response.

    “Okay,” she whispered quietly, but he still managed to hear her.

    As much as his chest hurt, he was able to smile a bit. He placed both hands on her cheeks and lifted her head to see her face.

    “Don't cry anymore,” he said softly, brushing away her tears with his thumb.

    She could tell he was trying his best to be strong for her, that's why he was forcing that smile even though his eyes told her that he wanted to cry as well. The least she could do was try and be strong for him. She reached her hands up, covering his. Looking him in the eye, she nodded. “I won't.”

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Author's Note: As I promised! An update in June! And this was longer than the other chapters too! :) Were you guys bored reading that? Because I know I was bored writing that. LOL I'm thinking about just dropping this. I really don't have any ideas. I'm better off just writing a bunch of NiKey oneshots. You guys won't hate me if i dropped this right? I'll make it up with a collection of NiKey oneshots? :)

  14. Chapter 11 The Black Out

    “He told me the lamest jokes I've ever heard. They were so lame that it was funny. And he had the cutest smile ever,” Seungyeon said, clapping her hands together and sighed dreamily.

    “So did you get his name?” I asked curiously.

    “Yes! His name's Onew, and he has 4 really cute friends. Maybe I should hook you guys up,” Seungyeon winked.

    “Do you have a picture?” Hara asked excitedly.

    “Unni, you have Wooyoung already!” Jiyoung reminded her.

    “Well, there's nothing wrong with checking them out,” Hara shrugged.

    “Where did Gyuri go?” I asked Seungyeon curiously.

    “To the washroom? Oh there she is.” I turned around and saw Gyuri walking towards us with Jay beside her. I didn't even notice that my smile dropped when I saw him.

    “Hey,” he greeted us. The rest of the girls said hi, except for me. I just looked away awkwardly. I flinched when he placed a hand on my shoulder. “Can I talk to you for a second?”

    Again. I thought to myself. Every time we had a talk, we would always get into another argument. I really hope he isn't going to be asking me about whether I've figured out what I wanted us to be.

    “Yeah sure,” I said standing up and going outside with him.

    “Are you okay?” he asked, looking me straight in the eye.

    “Yeah. Why?” I looked away uncomfortably.

    “You seem so out of it these days.”

    “Yeah well you know, the nightmares and everything. I'm just tired,” I faked a smile.

    “Are you sure? Did something happen when you were with Chansung?”

    I felt irritated that he kept asking even though I said I was fine already. I knew that Jay was just trying to help me, but he can help by not questioning me.

    “I said I'm okay,” I snapped.

    “I'm just worried about you,” he said with hurt in his voice. My heart ached for being so rude to him. I would complain when he didn't care and now that he does, I'm pushing him away. I knew that but right now I just needed some space.

    “There's nothing to be worried about. I'm going to go back first, can you tell the girls I said bye? I'll see you later,” I said, before walking away from him and towards my car.

    “Nicole wait,” I heard him say behind me but I just kept walking.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    I parked the car in the basement parking lot, as I continuously thought about my appa and Jay. I grabbed my phone which was the only thing I carried around and got out of the car, locking it behind me. The only sound heard were my heels clicking in the quiet parking lot.

    I flinched when I suddenly heard footsteps behind me. I spun around quickly and saw no one there. My heart began to race and I took a deep breath to calm myself down. I held onto my phone tightly and sped up my pace.

    I hated the basement parking lot. It was so dark and creepy. Maybe I just watched too many scary movies and was scaring myself.

    Suddenly a hand latched out from behind and grabbed me. I screamed loudly but then it was quickly muffled by another hand.

    The man dragged me in between two cars as I screamed and kicked, trying to hit him. I was so scared, I couldn't think properly.

    He threw me on the ground and I saw an old fat business man standing in front of me with a disgusting grin. He had glasses on and was slightly balding. This was all to familiar.

    I scurried back away from him, shaking with fear. He got closer and closer, so close that I gagged from his disgusting stench.

    “STOP IT!” I said trying to punch him, with my phone still in my hand. He grabbed onto the butterfly cellphone charm that Jay had given me and tried to pull my phone out of my hand.

    “No!” I cried when he had broken the charm and thrown it aside.

    “Give me your damn phone,” he grabbed my wrist and pried the phone from my hand, whipping it aside.

    He untied his tie and used it to bind my wrists over my head. I continued to kick and scream, “HELP! HELP!”

    “Stop screaming you stupid ######,” he mummured, covering my mouth with his hand again and using his other hand to push my shirt up. He leaned down towards my face, but I quickly turned away, shutting my eyes tightly.

    Disgusting filthy men. I hate men. I hate all the ing men in the world. I screamed in my head as I started to cry.

    “You smell so nice,” he said breathing in my hair. I wanted to throw up. I managed to loosen the tie and pushed him off quickly, punching him in the face and kicking him.

    I kicked off my heels and tried to run away, screaming continuously for help. Where the ###### were the security guards. Most people were probably asleep now that it was already 2 in the morning.

    “You ing ######!” he grabbed me by the hair and yanked me back, causing me to fall.

    “How dare you ing hit me,” he yelled, slapping me across the face twice. I tasted the metallic iron taste of blood from my cut lip. My head rang in pain.

    I screamed again but he quickly shoved his scrunched up tie into my mouth.

    He used one hand and both my hands above my head while using his other hand to push open my legs. I tried to clamp my legs closed but I started to lose strength after a while. Taking that chance he pushed himself in between my legs to prevent me from closing them again. I hated myself for wearing a skirt that day.

    “I love your legs,” he said licking my face, “And those salty tears.”

    My eyes shot open as I saw him use his free hand to unzip his pants.

    No. No. No. NO. My sobs were muffled by the tie.

    I felt like I was going to die. I had given up already as my tired aching body cried.

    “er,” I heard someone yell as the old man was pulled off me. I laid there, still crying as I watched the stranger punch the old man in the face several times. Was it Jay?

    “I'll ing kill you,” I heard him yell. He kicked the old man in the stomach, causing him to fall back. I saw the old man quickly scurry away.

    The stranger quickly came over to me and through my blurred vision I could tell that it was Nickhun.

    Oh, it was this boy who I haven't seen in so long.

    “Nicole,” he said softly, holding up unsure hands not knowing what to do. I didn't even feel that I was still sobbing. I didn't feel my cheeks burning and I didn't feel my head ringing. I felt nothing and thought of nothing besides the fact that I was safe.

    He took the tie out of my mouth carefully and wiped the blood from my lip gently. He threw aside the tie and shrugged off his jacket. He sat me up slowly and slipped his jacket around me.

    “What the ###### are you doing?!” an angry voice yelled from the distance. I could recognize that it was Jay.

    Oh. He came too.

    Nickhun ignored him and took off his tie to wrap around one of my scraped knees.

    “I said what the ###### are you doing?” Jay yelled once more, making his way over.

    “Where the hell were you!?” Nickhun stood up and stomped his way over to Jay, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt.

    “Please stop yelling,” I muttered as I sat staring at the floor in a daze. My eyes had ran out of tears to cry. My knees were bloodied and hands as well.

    Jay looked at me and his eyes widened in shock. He reached up and grabbed Nickhun's collar as well, shaking him. “What the ###### did you do to her?!”

    “She would've almost gotten raped if I hadn't happened to be around!” Nickhun yelled back in his face. Jay's hands dropped from Nickhun's shirt after what he had just heard.

    “I don't know why the hell you are living with her but if you're her ing boyfriend, you better take better care of her! Why would you let her out alone this late?!” Nickhun said, before punching Jay.

    I pushed myself up from the floor, ignoring all the stinging and aching in my body.

    It didn't hurt. It didn't hurt. It didn't hurt. I told myself, wanting to just get away from here.

    “Nicole! Where are you going? Stop moving,” Nickhun's voice quickly changed from angry to worried.

    It took all the strength in my body for me to take one step. When I took the second step, my legs gave in and I fell back on the floor.

    “Nicole!” I heard them both yell before my vision blackened.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    When I had woken up again, I saw white. It took me a while to adjust to the light and realize I was at the hospital. My hands were bandaged up and same with my knees. At the end of my bed were flowers and fruits and other gifts. I pushed myself up and grabbed the card which was attached to the flowers.

    How are you feeling? I heard what happened. Give me a call when you wake up, I'll be there asap.

    -Chansung

    I smiled to myself, before putting the card away and taking a look at the other gifts. That was when I noticed Jay was asleep on a chair in the corner of the room.

    “You're awake!” I looked up and Seungyeon rush over to the side of my bed with the rest of the crew. Jay stirred awake from all the noise and walked over to stand by the other side of my bed.

    “Hey guys, why are you all here?” I smiled, happy to see all of them.

    “What do you mean why? We all got a call saying you fainted!” Jiyoung said worriedly.

    “I'm fine! When can I get out of here?”

    “The doctor said you should stay for one more day just to rest up a bit,” Junho said.

    “How are you feeling?” Junsu asked.

    “Better, I haven't slept that well in so long,” I said stretching a bit. I flinched when there was a sharp pain in my back.

    “Are you okay?!” they all said in unison.

    “Yeah my back just hurts a bit.”

    “What'd you do? The doctor said you were overly exhausted and weren't getting enough sleep, but what's with all these cuts and bruises,” Taecyeon frowned.

    I didn't know how to answer them. I didn't want to think about what had happened. I never wanted to go through it again.

    “She almost got raped last night,” Nickhun answered, entering the room with a coffee in hand.

    I cringed at the words.

    Everyone looked at me with shocked wide eyes.

    “W-what happened?” Hara asked.

    “I-I'm okay. Nickhun saved me,” I said feeling thankful all over again. I noticed Nickhun's bandaged hand holding his cup of coffee. I looked over to Jay saw that one side of his was bruised.

    “I don't know how someone can leave their girlfriend out alone in the middle of the night.” Nickhun said, causing everyone to turn their attention to Jay.

    Jay's eyes narrowed at Nickhun and said, “I would've never let that asshole get away.”

    The images of the perverted old business man flashed across my head.

    “Can you two stop talking about it?” I said covering my ears, not wanting to remember anymore.

    “We're in a hospital,” Gyuri reminded the two of them

    “What was I supposed to do? Chase after him and leave her? If you had taken care of her in the first place, this would've never happened,” Nickhun said in return.

    “Shut up! Who the hell are you anyways? You don't know ######,” Jay said, walking around the bed to stand in front of him.

    “I know you're a shitty boyfriend for sure,” Nickhun challenged.

    “Do you want to take this outside?!” Jay roared. The rest of the guys had to hold them to prevent them from jumping at each other's necks.

    I covered my ears and tried to shake all the noises and images out of my head. “Shut up. Shut up. SHUT UP!

    Everyone froze and turned to look at me. I looked up bitterly at the two of them, “Both of you shut up. I'm sick and tired of this. Get out. I don't want to see you two right now.”

    “What's going on here?” a nurse asked, walking in, “ The other patients are complaining about the noise level.”

    “Get out!” I yelled one last time.

    “I think it would be best if you guy would leave right now,”the nurse said.

    Junsu and Junho who was holding onto both of Jay's arms nudged him and the three of them were the first to leave, followed by Nickhun, Wooyoung and Taecyeon.

    “Get some rest,” Chansung said, offering a smile before leaving with the girls.

    “Call us if anything okay?” Seungyeon said before closing the door behind.

    I waited a few seconds before lying back down and pulling the covers over my head. All I wanted to do right now was sleep.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Author's Note: So some of you guys guessed correctly who she called but i won't say who it is and you just have to find out next chapter. :D Yay I managed to update before June! I'll try to update soon since I actually have planned out something for the next few chapters. Might take a while for me to update though since I also have my other fanfic Don't Forget. Remember to check it out if you haven't :) Just click on the banner in my signature. :P -shamelessly promotes fanfic- Oh and ARGH. D: I was playing with photoshop and made another NiKey poster. Now I have another idea i want to start but I'm telling myself not to unless I finish these two. Ugh. Anyways! ^^ will update soon.